Doppelgänger (1969)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Robert Parrish

Writers:

Gerry Anderson (story) &
Sylvia Anderson (story) ...

Release Date:

11 November 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Sci-Fi

Tagline:

You will meet yourself face-to-face when Earth meets its duplicate in outer space!

Plot:

A planet is discovered in the same orbit as Earth's but is located on the exact opposite side of the sun...

Plot Keywords:

Planet | Sun | Astronaut | Space Travel | Outer Space

Cast

Roy Thinnes	...	Colonel Glenn Ross
Ian Hendry	...	John Kane
Patrick Wymark	...	Jason Webb
Lynn Loring	...	Sharon Ross
Loni von Friedl	...	Lisa Hartmann
Franco De Rosa	...	Paulo Landi (as Franco Derosa)
George Sewell	...	Mark Neuman
Ed Bishop	...	David Poulson (as Edward Bishop)
Philip Madoc	...	Dr. Pontini
Vladek Sheybal	...	Psychiatrist
George Mikell
Herbert Lom	...	Doctor Hassler

Also Known As:

Journey to the Far Side of the Sun (USA)

Runtime:

101 min

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

Norway:12 | UK:A | USA:G

Filming Locations:

Albufeira, Algarve, Portugal

Company:

Century 21 Television

Trivia:

The Phoenix spacecraft's power reactor is depicted as having been manufactured by Rolls Royce.

Goofs:

Revealing mistakes: When the astronauts are training for their mission, and have a parachute jump, clearly one of the parachutes doesn't open.

Quotes:

John Kane: I could grow attached to those.
Dr. Pontini: That's the idea. Now you can be hooked up to the heart, lung, and kidney machine during flight. With sedation, you'll sleep, three weeks there, and three weeks back.
John Kane: That part I'm looking forward to.

Movie Connections:

Edited into Out of this World Super Shock Show (2007) (V)

Undiscovered Sci-Fi Gem

This is the question that astronauts Roy Thinnes and Ian Hendry ask themselves when they discover a parallel world of Earth always hidden on the far side of the sun in this 1969 cult science fiction melodrama, released here in America as JOURNEY TO THE FAR SIDE OF THE SUN. The plot of the film was devised by British writers Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, the creators of such TV shows as "UFO", "The Thunderbirds" and "Space 1999". It is exceedingly weird at times, betraying the influence of "The Twilight Zone" and even Stanley Kubrick's classic 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. The visual effects work of Derek Meddings, who would also later work on SUPERMAN: THE MOVIE, holds up surprisingly well under the last three decades of special effects advancements; and while they are not really on the same exalted level of the Kubrick film, they are very superb. If you don't anticipate a STAR WARS-type of a film and can overcome the occasionally trite dialogue, DOPPELGANGER is a good film; it was good enough for me to rank it a '7' and consider it an undiscovered sci-fi gem.